I WOULD BE the first to admit that track driving is far from my forte. I've been lucky enough to drive on some of the best racetracks in the world in some of the world's best cars, but for some reason, I never really feel like I can push too hard, writes PADDY COMYN
Perhaps I don’t have the racing gene. Some of my colleagues take to it superbly. Show them a racetrack and they grin like Cheshire cats. I, on the other hand, always feel a certain amount of trepidation.
However, this may have passed thanks in large part to the Audi Sportscar Experience in Mondello Park last week. Now in its fourth successful year, the course is priced at €1,070. That’s a hefty expense in a recession for a day’s driving, but then again, so is running an entire fleet of V10 Audi R8s or indeed Audi S4s, which were our school cars for the day.
Unlike some of the more basic racing tuition we have experienced, thankfully there is a certain amount of knowledge assumed and after just a few minutes you are into a car. In our case it was the S4 Avant. The Mondello circuit was broken up into sections, the idea being that you perfect each of the 3.5km track’s corners.
It’s a good way to learn the track. Audi’s vastly experienced teachers stand and watch you take a corner and then (in various European languages translated into English) coax, badger, insult and encourage you into taking the right racing line. You do each corner over and over until you get it right, then on to the next one.
By the time you take the hugely powerful R8 V10s to the circuit to complete full laps behind an instructor, your brain has joined up the corners into a complete circuit and the track in its entirety seems infinitely less daunting. The cars themselves are probably some of the best you could learn high-performance driving in – the quattro all-wheel drive provides leech-like grip and any slide feels controlled.
Of the many tuition courses available, we would rank this as one of the best. Would-be racers may find the day a little on the slow side, as the convoy system doesn’t allow for overtaking, but it also prevents €230,000 worth of Audi ending up in a tyre wall.
At the end of the day, a certificate, your own racing helmet, a full belly and infinitely improved driving skills mean that the €1,070 doesn’t seem like money badly spent, and for real petrol-heads, it is a day of heaven.
Audi expects to be back next year, anyone interested can contact their local Audi dealer.